Page 23 of The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles 2)

Urd wrenched her head around toward Moondance with the speed and agility of a cobra striking and Moondance reared backward. “No!” Urd snapped. “I can’t. Whatever happened to Cailleach McFay is shrouded, but she has more power than the lot of you thrown together.”

“How do we get to it?” Liz asked.

“How should I know?” Urd grumbled. She hobbled back to her chair and took up her knitting again, muttering about a dropped stitch. From the chain around her waist, she snatched the sickle knife and cut through a piece of yarn. The pressure on my spine relaxed. I suspected that if the old woman wished, she could have yanked that cord and made me dance like a puppet. Skald groaned, her fingers flying over her keyboard. Verdandi started pulling stitches out of her needlepoint. I turned away from the Norns and went over to Ann. Diana was still holding her hand, stroking it gently between hers.

“Ann, I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

She smiled weakly. “It’s all right, Callie, you didn’t know what you were doing. And my hand is fine now.” She held it up and wriggled her fingers. Not only was the hand unbroken, but all signs of her arthritis were gone. Her flesh was smooth and faintly glowing. “See, as good as new—even better.”

“You should let me tend to your hands regularly,” Diana said.

Ann smiled, but shook her head. “You do enough for me, Diana. And now you’ve used up all your Aelvesgold on me.”

“And all the Aelvesgold we had to cast the circle for Brock,” Moondance remarked, clucking her tongue.

I looked back at Ann’s hand and saw that the glow in her flesh was the same honey gold as I’d seen in Faerie. A residue of gold was also on Diana’s palms, but as I watched, it faded. Not only had I broken Ann’s hand; the circle had used up their supply of Aelvesgold to heal her and there was none left to help Brock.

“Can we get more?” I asked.

“Our only dependable supply comes from Faerie,” Soheila answered. “But sometimes we find traces of it in the Undine, especially after an undine spawning. Diana and I will look for it.”

“Can I help?”

“Haven’t you done enough?” Moondance snapped.

“There’s no need to be hard on Callie,” Liz replied. “If she has power that’s been untapped, she may be able to help Brockandkeep the door open. We just have to find someone to train her properly. Unfortunately, I believe it might be outside the abilities of our circle.”

A murmur of consent moved through the group—the first thing they’d agreed on since I’d entered the room.

“She needs a special instructor,” Joan Ryan said.

“One with experience unlocking blocked energy,” Ann added.

“Kind of like Reiki,” Tara volunteered, “or a good chiropractor.”

“Isn’t there a mage out in Sedona who does something with candle wax and auras?” Leon asked, flipping open a laptop. Several others in the group also retrieved electronic devices. Liz was jotting down suggestions on a notepad.

I felt Soheila’s hand on my arm. “Don’t worry, Callie, we’ll find someone to help you. You should go home and rest. Your first circle is always tiring.”

“And dehydrating,” Diana added, appearing on my other side. “Make sure you drink plenty of water.” Both women were gently steering me toward the door, clearly eager to get me away from the rest of the circle while they were distracted. I looked back at the group and saw that they’d drawn closer together, filling in the space I’d briefly inhabited. I felt the same hurt I had as a child when I didn’t get picked for a game at recess. Diana and Soheila walked me out of the house to my car, taking turns assuring me that the circle would figure something out. I was halfway to the car when I thought of something.

“The Aelvesgold can heal people?” I asked.

“Yes,” Diana said, her eyes flickering toward Soheila. “It’s the essential substance of magic. Used correctly, it mends broken bones, cures disease, and prolongs life. It can also lend great magical power.”

“But always at a price,” Soheila said. “If a human uses too much, it can deplete their life force rather than prolonging it. Witches have died of overdoses.”

“Why doesn’t Ann Chase use it to cure her arthritis?” I asked. “Or to slow her aging?”

Soheila and Diana looked at each other uneasily. “Ann hasa daughter who has medical problems,” Soheila answered at last. “What Aelvesgold she acquires, she uses for her. We all give her what we can, but there’s not enough for her and for her daughter.”

“And she can handle only so much of it, so she chooses to channel all she gets into her daughter.”

“Couldn’t someone else channel it for her?” I asked. “Like you just did to fix her hand?”

“That only works once or twice on the same person. We’re not sure why. There’s a limit to how much a human can absorb.”

“Like a vitamin deficiency,” I said thinking about what Liam had told me about how the undines could no longer absorb Aelvesgold after they had been in Faerie too long.

Soheila tilted her head, thoughtful. “Exactly.”

“We’d better get back in,” Diana said, looking impatient. “I don’t want the circle overtaxing Liz. She was up all last night talking to members of the governing board of IMP.”

“Did she get a feel for how they’ll vote?” I asked.

“It wasn’t good. One of the three fey members on the board has resigned and the remaining two couldn’t be reached. Delbert Winters, a wizard at Harvard who wrote a paper last year on the science of magic that debunked the idea that the fey taught magic to witches, is in favor of closing the door. Then she spent half the night talking to Eleanor Belknap, a witch at Vassar, who’s gotten it into her head that the open door to Faerie has contributed to global warming. A ridiculous notion, but Eleanor and Liz have been friends for years and she felt she had to hear her out. It took a lot out of her and she’s still recovering from her illness last winter…” She blushed and looked away from me, embarrassed at the reminder of yet another problem I had caused. It had been the liderc I let in through the door who had made Liz sick.

“Go on and check on Liz,” I said, getting into my car. But then as they turned to go, I thought of something else. “If the door to Faerie closes, does that mean …?”

“No more Aelvesgold,” Soheila said, putting her arm around Diana’s shoulder, which I could see was trembling. She didn’t have to add that if there were no more Aelvesgold in this world, witches who had used it to augment their life span would suddenly age and die.

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